WW: Big Boy Tools with Daddy

Chris was helping me sweep up our car port. Brian came home in the midst of Chris explaining his good idea of taking out our shop vac to blow to clean it up faster.

So Brian suggested the "Big Boy Tool"!!
Chris was in awe and kiddo heaven.... Daddy time AND a real Man TOOL!

Later that night, Chris took out the markers and made Daddy a picture that reminded them of their time together!! Precious! I love that from the picture you can see how much Chris enjoyed that event:)

Reminds me of a quote from Things We Wished We'd Known about Abundant Homeschooling:

Children need quality time- quantities and quantities of it.
The kind of time children need is the kind only parents can provide.

More Wordless Wednesday at  NapTime MomTog, 5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go

and Live and Love...Out Loud !!!

Happy 4th of July:)

Hope everyone is enjoying our nation's Independence Day:)

We are picnic-ing with family and hope to catch some fireworks in a neighboring town!

Just wanted to share a picture that Chris drew for us the other day:)

It's President Obama saying "Hooray, I'm the president!"

Regardless of your opinions of Barak Obama...

I thought it was another a great picture from CHris;)

Happy 4th of July!!!

Braving the Symphony with 4 Kiddos

Recently, we were BRAVE.....
very brave!!!

We got word through two different friends that the NC Symphony was "nearby" doing a benefit concert for the tornado victims in our state. And we saw it as an opportunity to get some "culture" as well expose our children to the symphony.

The symphony warming up [excuse the blurry pic... very low lighting and a wiggly baby on my lap!!] Yes, we got there early... LOL!!

Brian and I made a "game plan"... we sit on the ends and "trap" the kids between us.
Also a part of the plan was for the kids to bring their "church bags". So they had some paper and some markers/crayons.

I really was impressed with how the symphony held their attention. For the 1st 3 songs, Nate sat soo still on my lap, he barely moved a muscle. And the older kiddos did the same.

Then they started pulling out their "quiet" stuff, that's when it got busy:) Honestly, for them being soo young and how close the rows are lined up, they did really well. Chris only knocked the older lady in the head with his papers once, or twice :/ She smiled and told me she was a grandma of 7... super understanding;)

And besides Nate trying to "sing" with the music, he only hollered out LOUD once.... it was when the conductor was introducing a song. He made a joke saying someone in the audience "must be familiar with this song!" Again... super understanding!

We knew it was time to VAMOS!, when Nate was super wiggly and spit his paci. We forgot the Bink Link and I felt his paci hit my knee and GOOOOO!!!

In the dark, tight aisle with a wiggly and tired toddler, there was NO point to attempt to find it! I just made the sign to Brian.... and we left!

Figures that the kids MOST enjoyed the stairs!!

I LOVED being at the Symphony:) Playing violin from elementary to college to seminary it was nice to be reminded of beauty of instrumental music. And it really is breath-taking to hear a full orchestra!!

Oh and they played one of my favorite pieces... Russian Sailors Dance!! I remembered how much I enjoyed playing that piece in high school:)

I have to mention that Brian and I both have a new appreciation for opera singers. The symphony is touring with an amazing vocalist named Rhiannon Giddens Laffan. She's actually a part of a NC band, her bio is here.

I think it was a successful night. We all enjoyed the symphony... some longer than others;) And we left on our own almost towards the end... they didn't have to kick us out;)

None of our kids are talking about playing musical instruments or singing some of songs they heard... LOL!! But Chris did spend his time during the symphony making some great pictures;)

The Conductor
(check out his teeth and toes!!)

And some instruments....
(violin, stringed bass, cymbals & piano)

And some more...
(trombone, trumpet and harp)

And I looked down during the Russian Sailors Dance
and thought he was drawing sword-fighting!!
NO... it's the conductor with his family... they're conductors, too!!

WW: The Real Reason...

Thanks to Chris for this drawing.... totally his own idea. And only when I really stopped to look at his picture did I realize what he'd actually drawn:) Baby Jesus in a manger (under a Christmas tree!!!).

Truely sweet and inspirational!

Thankful for the reminder of the Real Reason for Christmas!!

Luke 2:15- 17
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.

You can find some other picture posts at 5 Minutes for Mom, Go Graham Go, To Be Thode and !!!

Rainy Day Inspiration & How Sister Dressed Nate

It's still rainy, and the kids haven't gotten out in the rain as much as they would LOVE to:)

One of their "school"/Awana actvities this week was to draw pictures of things God made, by looking out the window and drawing what they could see. Of course, it's been rainy so there wasn't MUCH to see out the window.

I pulled open our front door so the kids could all see at one time and have a better view. The kids loved it.


They all spent quite a bit of time sitting in front of the door, watching the rain and drawing.I thought it was soo neat how much they enjoyed the new and simple "art" space!!


As you can imagine, most of the pictures involved rain and water:) Chris drew whales jumping out of the puddles he saw in our front yard... LOL!!! A little imagination added in there:)


And Lydia's favorite picture was a girl getting wet in the rain:)


And just for fun, I'll share how Anna wanted to dress Nate today! I will preface the picture by saying it's a little challenging to dress him right now b/c it's between seasons, he's between sizes and the "cloth diaper bottom"!!!

Brother's Model

One of the challenges, I face, homeschooling more than one child is trying to tailor "together" subjects for each of the different age groups and abilities and interests! I, in NO way, have perfected this.... I'm convinced after 2 years of homeschooling that I have a TON more to learn:)

But each time I feel inadequate or that I haven't "properly" taught my kids a certain subject....

they teach ME!!!

Yesterday, I was again taught!

We pick and study a topic from an children's Earth Science. And then from there I find activities, books, illustrations,etc that help the kids understand.

Yesterday we worked on Day and Night. We covered the basic day/night information and then talked about, eclipses, specifically a solar eclipse. We watched an online video and saw a great interactive activity:)

The kids always pay attention for the first 30+ minutes and then I start to loose them... unless they get to color, cut and paste:) LOL!!! I'm never sure how much Chris and Lydia get....

but Anna has to complete a notebook page with facts for her binder, so I can review and check how much she has retained!! Yesterday though she struggled to get her 3 facts... probably because she was doing it later in the afternoon when we had the "afternoon crew"!! She tried and tried to figure out how to write her last fact....

about solar eclipses!!

Excuse the misspellings,etc... she's a young & new 2nd grader and I wasn't able to sit with her and help since I had a very active household at that time of the day...

7 kids total... 3 outside, 2 doing homework and 1 sleeping.... yes that only makes 6...

the 7th was CHRIS... I found him in the school room cutting and coloring paper. Oh, my gut was to fuss at him for getting into stuff WITHOUT asking....

Then I saw his creation....

YES!!!! DO you recognize it???

He heard Anna trying to write a sentence about a solar eclipse. And he MADE one!!!!

He came out of the schoolroom with his "model" and started to show us how he could model an eclipse!!! She saw it, wrote her sentence and was finished....

She had been reminded (re- taught ) by her brother (the one playing on the floor while we were reading!!). He (like the others) just amaze me that they retain sooo much! And can recall and even make "models" of it. And I really LOVED the fact that he did it to "help" his sister... to show her!!

Makes me soo thankful that we have chosen to homeschool our kiddos during this season... as challenging as it seems some days!! I am thankful to have my house FULL (of children, books, learning, prayers for Daddy & friends, yes and even picnics) during the day!!

You can find some other picture posts at Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom and Go Graham Go!!!

Which Bible Story????

Christopher drew a picture about the Bible story we learned last Sunday... he actually did the picture immediately after the teacher told him what the story was about that morning:)

So use up all your Sunday School and Bible knowledge to figure out what story Christopher was depicting in his drawing (that has taken a few creative liberties... LOL)!!!

More of Christopher's Art

Chris was drawing this morning before we got started with everythin this morning. He LOVES to draw and will use ANY paper and would try to empty my printer of paper if I didn't keep an eye on him. So here were his pictures:)

Man on a Skateboard

Man on a bike

LOL... he's still little but his little artist imagination is always at work. And his pictures are works of art to us:)

almost WW - The Birthday Pic by Chris

Monday was my birthday and I was able to spend it with my family, parents, sister (and my little niece (pics to come). Anyway, during some drawing time today, Chris illustrated our birthday party.... as only Christopher can do...



I LOVE how creative he is with his drawings... they seem soo random and silly, yet he has thought them out enough to include details.... like the balloons, a birthday cake and EYEBROWS...LOL!!

He's such a crazy kid... wildly running around the house chasing his sisters making them scream to draw these fun pictures for us:)

More Wordless Wednesday fun at Wordless Wednesday and 5 Minutes for Mom!

My favorite end of the week pics!

Lydia and the belly paint!


Here is Christopher drawing of an elephant and it's trunk!!

Pumpkin Morning & Allergy Fears

Well I did use some of the "pumpkin math" ideas.... but for our Halloween morning we had a Pumpkin Morning!!! We drew pictures of our pumpkins, they described(felt, colors,etc) them and I wrote their words. We then weighed and measured the pumpkins and ordered them from largest to smallest:)We also played a Pumpkin Face shape match game in the kids' Highlights Magazine and read a book that talked about how pumpkins grow and end up at the pumpkin patch... very, very informative and definitely counted as some science:)

Then I brought the kids into the kitchen to carve them..... I made a video of how they entertained themselves as I got our supplies and kitchen ready for the mess (it was too chilly to go outside) !!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sorry I don't have picture of them carved out... I just haven't done it yet:) Friday was a busy day:) But we will get to it... think I should carve a turkey or a Christmas tree on them.... ahhahaa

The other thing about the pumpkins and the carving is that I'm not sure how much contact Christopher should have with the pumpkin juices and insides...ewww:) Since he has had trouble with a squash allergy, he might also have a problem with pumpkins...so I kept a close eye as he made a couple scoops and I kept the stool near the sink so he could wash his hands whenever he needed to (regardless of what I was doing or had on my hands).

But no reactions, although I haven't given him a roasted pumpkin seed to try yet... not sure if I will even try it... I'm actually thinking giving him a piece of a baked pumpkin muffin might be a better trial since it would have been processed and baked at least once.... we'll see....

Bats and New Safe Eats

This morning during our writing time, Christopher grabbed the markers and started drawing. Anna never did much drawing of anything but letters... but Christopher will draw animals and people, trucks, shapes and letters!! He's very creative... at least I think so (totally biased, I know!!)

So you want to guess what this is??? (just read the title of the post and you'll get it)

At the grocery store yesterday I scooped up a new brand of cereal that I had a coupon for... my coupon was for $1 off, so it met my under $2 cereal criteria:)

Anyway, the cereal is called Cascadian Farms organic Granola. And we got the "oats and honey" variety.... our Walmart carries like 8 different varieties. Usually speciality cereals have milk or peanut issues and so I just picked a cereal out for me... isn't that soo selfish....

So as I was putting away the cereal at home I was deciding what shelf to put it on.... the lower "safe food shelf" or the higher "not for the kids" shelf (yes, they are labeled at my house)! It was then I realized that it contained NO milk ingredients and had not been on shared peanut equipment!!!

Last night for a snack, Anna asked for the "new cereal we haven't tried yet" which we were very surprised to hear from out little girl who never tries new foods... well I guess it's not NEVER anymore:)

For snack this morning, my healthly kids (hahahaa) are munching on (and dropping it all over the kitchen floor) organic granola.... which is totally allergy friendly!!! Yay!!

And another allergy friendly company that we've been enjoying lately is ARNOLDS... on their website you can even find food that are ok for your fmaily using a search that will eliminate the ingreidents you have to avoid!!!